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nafex - [NAFEX] Submission

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  • From: Jim F <bonfire58_2000@yahoo.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc: jfruth@uslink.net
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Submission
  • Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 06:20:14 -0700 (PDT)

     Why do so many people believe the 'old wives tale' that pine needles and oak leaves make the soil acidic?
     Upon the first day of my Horticulture class, for a gee-whiz experiment, I grind up dry pine needles, add distilled water, insert a pH meter, and ask a student to read the meter.  "Oh, it's alkyline," is the usual response.  Not very alkyline, really, with a pH of 7.2 to 7.3.  Next, I take a jar of pine needles and oak leaves that have been fermenting for a month and ask another student to read the meter.  "pH 7.0," is the invariable response.  For the last portion of the experiment, I have a third student read the pH meter for a jar of pine needles and oakleaves that have been composting in my garden for a year.  The pH is still 7.0, no more acidic than other composted vegetative matter.
     Every time I encounter a conifer that I hadn't tested before, I collect its needles for a pH test and I have yet to discover acidity among those I have tested.  Perhaps there is a species of conifer, somewhere, whose needles make soil acidic, and if there is, I just haven't found it yet.
Jim Fruth
Pequot Lakes, MN 
 
 


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